Chapter Seventeen

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"What happened?" Lori questioned as she wiped the dried blood from my knees. 

I didn't answer her, my lips puckered with thought. 

"Did he hurt you?" She asked, moving to wrap a bandage on my knees. 

"No," I mumble. 

"Why did you run away?" Lori then questioned as she moved to my other knee. 

"I got upset." I huff, blowing a piece of hair out of my face. 

"About what?" Lori questioned. 

I keep my mouth shut. 

"Andrew, I can't help you if you won't let me know what's wrong?" Lori sighs. 

"I didn't ask for your help!" I snapped, jerking away despite the pain in my knees. 

Lori jumps, startled by my outburst. 

My lip quivers and I burst into tears. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it!" I cry and throw myself forward, wrapping my arms around her neck. 

"Careful." She soothes, rubbing her swollen stomach with one hand while she embraces me with the other. 

"I'm all alone," I whisper.

"Let's continue to clean your knees," Lori tells me. 

I frown, pulling back as she continues to bandage and wrap my knees. 

She never denied me being alone despite Carl saying that I wasn't and that they were there for me. 

    

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It had been a few days later and Hershel was healing well. 

I was sitting in the room with him, reading a book when some gunfire startled me. 

The book dropped to the floor as I stand up and pull my knife from my pocket. 

"Andrew?" Hershel sits up, taking a pair of crutches that we found, and stands up. 

"I don't know what's wrong," I tell him as he hobbles over to me. 

We walk out where we meet Beth who grabs my hand and leads us to a fenced-in entryway. 

"I have to find Lori," I whisper, moving towards the door.

 "Nuh-uh." Beth grabs my arm. "You stay here." 

"I don't see her! She needs someone to protect her." I yelled, yanking my arm from Beth's grip. 

As I slip away, the alarms start to sound. 

Beth screams for me as I take off across the field. 

My eyes scan the field as I search for Lori. 

Instead, I see Carol and T-dog. 

T-dog was limping and was leaning heavily on Carol. 

I dart towards them, my knife poised in front of me. 

"Carol! T-dog!" 

Their heads dart towards me. 

"Andrew! Where's Hershel?" Carol questioned, looking around. 

"He's okay." 

I then notice T-dog holding his shoulder. 

"Sorry, kiddo." He mumbles. 

I move to his other side and he places a hand on my shoulder to steady himself, smearing blood on my shirt. I tuck my knife back into my pocket.

"Where should we go?" T-dog muttered. 

"The laundry room. I think it's around here somewhere." I point towards a sign.

Carol nods and we head towards the room. 

In front of the door were two walkers. 

I reach to pull my knife out of my pocket when I realize that my pocket is empty. 

"Go." T-dog manages to stand upright long enough to step away and have the walkers follow him. 

"T-dog, no!" Carol cries. 

"No, I have to do this. Take Andrew and protect yourselves. I'm going anyway, might as well do it heroically." T-dog let out a little chuckle. 

Carol pulls me into the laundry room, shutting the door and pushing a large table in front of it. 

Now I could panic. 

I had left safety to go and help others. 

Stupid!

My lower lips quiver as I sniff back tears. 

"Hey, it's alright." Carol soothes, moving away from the door and towards me. 

"I'm sorry." I whimper, just now noticing the pain in my knees. 

My bag! 

"I don't have my bag," I whisper. 

"Darling, are you in pain?" Carol questioned, kneeling next to me and using her thumb to wipe away the tears that fell down my cheeks. 

I give a slow nod and Carol takes a seat beside me. 

"We don't have any weapons. We have to stay here until it's clear." Carol whispers as she pulls me into her lap. 

I bury my face into her shirt, not feeling so brave anymore. 

"I'm scared," I whisper. 

Carol rubs my back as she tries to calm me down. 

"Me too." 


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